Firefighters Drive Through Southern California Wildfire

The wildfires raging in Southern California are being fanned by Santa Ana winds, the notoriously gusty and witheringly dry blasts that are linked to some of the worst infernos in the region's history.

A classic Santa Ana is formed when high pressure over the Great Basin causes dry air to flow out of the interior of the West in a clockwise rotation and enter Southern California from the northeast and move toward lower pressure off the coast.

The air speeds up as it squeezes through mountain passes and canyons, sometimes reaching ferocious speeds.

At the same time the dryness causes relative humidity levels to plunge, often down to single-digit percentages, drying out living and dead vegetation and making it ready to burn.

The origin of the wind's name has never been settled, but most discussions mention Santa Ana Canyon in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles.

White Official Tells Black Woman He Belonged to Master Race

Some Leavenworth County, Kansas, officials are calling for Commissioner Louis Klemp's resignation after he insulted a black woman who had just presented a land-use study to the commission. "I don't want you to think I am picking on you because we are part of the master race. You have a gap in your teeth. We are part of the master race, don't you forget that," Klemp said.